100-year-old radiologist dies from COVID-19
Kenneth Kaess, MD—a Connecticut radiologist, nuclear medicine expert and cancer researcher—recently died from COVID-19 just shy of his 101st birthday, according to an obituary published in local newspapers.
Born March 1, 1920, in Fargo, North Dakota, Kaess’ career in imaging spanned decades and took him to all corners of the country. He studied medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he also served as a research fellow in radiology and nuclear physics.
From there, Kaess was one of the early doctors to receive certification in nuclear medicine. He spent stints at Northwestern University in Illinois, Henry Ford in Michigan and Cedars Sinai in California.
Eventually, Kaess settled in Connecticut, where he served as director of Radiology at St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, and later director of radiology at Winsted Hospital. He was also a fellow of the American College of Radiology and Massachusetts Medical Association and a member of several other professional imaging groups.
The physician was among a handful of radiologists chosen to represent the U.S. at the Soviet American Congress of Radiology in Moscow, and he also received a certificate of appreciation from Memorial Sloane Kettering for his leadership and commitment in the battle against cancer.
Kaess died Jan. 16, 2021, in Redding, Connecticut, from COVID-19, according to his daughter Karen Kaess Clark. You can read more about his life from Legacy.com below
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.